Post by Raquel on Sept 24, 2018 20:22:08 GMT 9

Thanks!!

It could have to do with maturity, Amy, but my son is always more interested in men than in women. There have been times when he's talking about what this man and that one are doing and I've told him that there are also women in this world, not just men.

This sure is my favorite year when it comes to language. They go from next to nothing to speaking quite a lot in a very short time. It's amazing to watch.

It does, Nellie!!

Counting: Yesterday, we found out my son can count to 10, with his mistakes here and there. We haven't taught him, so I wonder whether he learned at school or from his sister. It was so cute yesterday, because right after getting to: "8, 9...", he says, triumphantly: "...two!!" This morning, I heard my daughter going "... 29, 30, 31..." I guess the trading cards are doing their job. She still makes mistakes.

Learning to read: My daughter only read 3 days this week, but it was a busy one, so I'm surprised we could get all that reading in.

Reading: I haven't read much to them at night, but it's hard to do when they're already asleep by the time we get home. I hope things slow down soon.

Post by Amy on Sept 25, 2018 0:54:30 GMT 9

It simply is one of those weeks, Raquel. Don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities to make up for the reading over the coming weeks.

As to counting, they can pick it up easily. Make the most of it and count steps together as you use stairs, for example. Or on the school-run. It's just a matter of creating a drill. That's what nursery school teachers do for many of their activities.

Amy

***"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars" - Oscar Wilde***

Post by Raquel on Oct 1, 2018 18:19:11 GMT 9

Thanks, Amy!

D's Reading: This week my daughter read 4 days, which is good. It was another busy week, with a crazy weekend, but this month I hope things will start slowing down.

S's speech: My son keeps amazing me with the things he says. Today, on the way to school, I was asking him whether he was big, and he said "little", so I asked whether he was little, and he told me he was "a little big", then he decided he was "big, big". It surprises me that a 2yo can talk about things being a little this or that. This is just one small thing out of many he says every day.

We tried another English group in Madrid and, although this one activity we did wasn't suited for our children, from what they told me they usually do, and the people I met, I loved the group. This means 2 groups, both with monthly meetings, so 2 meetings a month if we go to both, plus most likely monthly theater classes: I still have to contact the person in charge and see how they work. Over a year ago I would have given anything to do any of these 3 things and have my children interact with other English-speaking children.

Post by Raquel on Oct 3, 2018 18:10:41 GMT 9

That is fantastic Raquel! Finding groups like that is such a motivation. How did you find them?

It is! I found them through a friend. Before that I was looking for a group like this for at least a year, but couldn't find anything that wasn't morning playgroups, when I'm working and my children attend school.

Where are the people in it from?

There's a little of everything. In the first one I'd say most are Spanish, but there are also families where one of the parents is American, British or Irish. In the second group I couldn't really tell at this point, but I saw fewer families where both parents were Spanish, there were quite a few Americans and I remember speaking with a Scot. Sorry, no Australians.

It makes no difference where the parents are from. What really matters to me is that their children speak English. In the first group, most do and they're younger, but some understand it but will answer in Spanish. In the second group, I got the feeling that they all spoke English, that both parents spoke English to them, and they were a bit older. I chatted with a few children, as some of us had lunch together, and they all seemed to speak English well and easily. I also got to speak with some of the parents and they all seemed very nice. I loved that it felt like total immersion; I kept forgetting I was in Spain and had to speak Spanish to everyone else!! This is exactly what would be ideal for my children, to feel completely immersed in English.

This Sunday is when the theater activity starts. I'm really looking forward to it and meeting everyone!

Post by Raquel on Oct 5, 2018 17:35:29 GMT 9

Yesterday we had our 'English class'. I mentioned before how surprised this man was with my children's vocabulary, especially my daughter's. Well, I think he was more so yesterday. At one point they played Time's Up (one describes the pictures and the other one guesses what they are):

- My daughter described a dinosaur, and when the teacher guessed right, she asked what kind of dinosaur it was. He guessed T-Rex and was right.

- When she described a diaper saying it was something babies wear, he did say diaper. Then he asked what babies put on around their neck when they eat, and my daughter said "a bib".

- When he described a camel as an animal with a hump, my daughter also knew it was a camel.

After those 3, and her talking about a beehive, he commented again on her vocabulary. I was hearing it all and imagining how surprised he was by it all, haha. Another proud ml mom moment. I did explain that they worked on dinosaurs at school last year, so I learned all the different dinosaurs in English to discuss them at home, that animals is something all children know a lot about and that we use baby stuff every day.

There were also some funny moments, like when my daughter described a candy as "what we have on Fridays" (our rule is "only lollies on Fridays" so that they don't ask for sweets every day). I knew right away what it was, but of course he didn't have a clue. I love how innocent my daughter still is.

I also noticed that my son said "I found it", past tense and all, when looking for our car. I know he's just repeating something he's heard a lot, but I loved it!

Post by Adam Beck on Oct 6, 2018 7:25:03 GMT 9

There were also some funny moments, like when my daughter described a candy as "what we have on Fridays" (our rule is "only lollies on Fridays" so that they don't ask for sweets every day). I knew right away what it was, but of course he didn't have a clue. I love how innocent my daughter still is.

So cute and funny, Raquel! Your kids are doing so well!

Adam Beck is the founder of Bilingual Monkeys and The Bilingual Zoo, and the author of the popular book Maximize Your Child's Bilingual Ability amzn.to/22XKuCt and the humorous novel How I Lost My Ear amzn.to/2EsjVRS, both available worldwide. Please support The Bilingual Zoo through Adam's Patreon page www.patreon.com/bilingualmonkeys.

Post by Raquel on Oct 8, 2018 18:51:39 GMT 9

This week my children didn't spend that much time in English, but I'm okay with it, because it's due to the good weather we've had and it'll be short-lived. It's already getting cold.

My daughter read in English 5 days this week.

I read a book to them every night they were still awake, except for yesterday, when it was way past their bed time.

My son keeps learning new words in both languages. This morning I heard him say "¡Qué susto!" when playing with his sister, and as soon as I said "What a fright!" he repeated it and started using it.

On Saturday, we got together for a family birthday and my daughter played with my nephew in English. He always replies in Spanish, which made her switch to Spanish too, but this time she stuck to English.

On Sunday, we went to the monthly theater activity in English. In the end my son is in a class and my daughter in a different one, which works well. They got to do the class for an hour and then play with other English speaking children for another hour, which was great! The activity was good and I liked what I saw and heard.

Post by Raquel on Oct 17, 2018 16:55:18 GMT 9

My daughter read 6 days this past week. They were asked to read every day in Spanish at school, so that helps, because we read in both languages. They even have a paper sheet where we have to record the days they read by adding the date, and they put a sticker in there, to make it fun. I'm very proud of how well she's doing in both languages. Her Spanish reading is going very well, although she has trouble with long words because she doesn't remember the beginning when she's read the end. She still needs work with some sounds. In English we're doing better. She kept forgetting ea sounded e, but she's remembering lately. I was also surprised she knew right away that oa sounded o yesterday. These are sounds she's learned already, but there are so many to remember!! If I didn't know how to read the words I wouldn't remember them myself.

D's Counting: still doing good here. She has a bit more trouble with numbers between 13 and 19, because you don't start by reading the 1 and then the second number, but the other way around: "third(3)... teen(1)", unlike the other numbers: "twenty(2)... three(3)". Hundreds are also tricky for her, especially when the 1 is followed by a 0: 108, 106...

I've already heard my son regularize an irregular past, which amazes me. It means he gets how the past tense works. My daughter still does this with some verbs.

We spent the long weekend (October 12th is a holiday) away with my brother and family, so there was a lot of Spanish going on, as my nephew will only speak Spanish, even though he understands both languages.

But it's getting colder, which means less time spent out with friends and more time spent with mommy, hehe.

Post by Raquel on Oct 19, 2018 17:42:22 GMT 9

Transferences: I noticed yesterday that my son is transferring some expressions from Spanish into English: "because yes/no".

Reading: My daughter is reading better and faster lately. Some sounds she's already learned need work still, but I plan on rereading once we finish this book and having her read new ones too. I wonder whether Spanish is helping English and vice versa.

Bed-time reading: We've been doing better lately. I've read to them almost every night. My son sometimes insists on reading himself instead, meaning passing pages randomly and sometimes looking at some pictures.

Captive reading: I need to start doing this again.

Sticker album: We've almost finished it, so we'll soon need to get a new one.

I feel like we need more time to do all the things I'd like to do while allowing them enough play time. There's so much my daughter is expected to do at school!!

Post by Raquel on Oct 22, 2018 17:49:48 GMT 9

Daughter's (D) reading: Now that she needs to read in Spanish for school we're reading more in English too. She read 6 days this past week.

Bedtime stories: Still doing much better here.

Son's (S) speech: I think he speaks very well for his age. I asked his teacher on Friday and she said that -in Spanish- he speaks a lot and very clearly, which is great. In English he also speaks a lot and makes long sentences. This past week was the first time I got a written note by one of my kids' teacher commenting -positively- on our speaking English at home. It was my son's English teacher. I was always surprised they never mentioned it, not even indirectly.

D's ML vs. ml: I keep wondering which one is stronger. I go from thinking it's the ML, but then when I hear her speak she makes mistakes like "gracias para" instead of "gracias por" (thank you for...), things she says right in English, and it makes me wonder. She almost always uses English when playing by herself at home, but I imagine she plays in Spanish at school.

S's time spent in English: This year he spends about 26h in Spanish Monday-Friday.

D's time spent in English: This year she spends about 40h in Spanish Monday-Friday.

My goal for them is always that they spend about 50% of their time in English. With my son it seems easy enough, but it's trickier with my daughter.

This week D only spent 35h in English and 55h in Spanish, due to staying with their grandparents all day Saturday, which was much needed, I must say. S spent 40h in English and 38h in Spanish, which is good.

Post by Raquel on Oct 29, 2018 19:59:33 GMT 9

D's reading: My daughter read in both the ML and ml 6 days this week. She now reads in the ML better than in the ml, but that's no wonder, as reading in Spanish is very easy, as it's almost 1 letter - 1 sound. She struggles with all the different vowel sounds in English.

D's time in the ml: 36h. But it's pretty chilly now, so we should do better from now on.

S's time in the ml: 40h.

Reading to them:We do better with my daughter than with my son. She always wants us to read to her and is interested in the stories. One day, after having been read to 6 books, she was still asking for one more before bed. She also chooses a different book each night.My son's newest favorite book is "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" and he chooses it every night.

Post by Raquel on Nov 12, 2018 20:33:01 GMT 9

The other day another mom made my day. We were in a store and I mentioned something about my son's nursery school. She was surprised he attended nursery school, thought he was older. I told her my son is only 2, and then she commented on how much he spoke and how well, that his pronunciation was very clear. This was all in Spanish, she didn't even know at this point that he speaks 2 languages. It made me happy that my son's ML, even compared to that of a monolingual child, is good. His English is very good too, for a 2yo. I love that he can tell me more each day, and better.

D's time in the ml: 58h. The upside to rainy days is more ml exposure. S's time in the ml: 55h.

D's reading: She read 5 days this week. I'm happy that we made progress with vowel sounds, which are very confusing for a child learning to read in Spanish as well, where every vowel equals just one sound. She still reads better and faster in Spanish, but that was to be expected. I'm very happy with her progress reading in English.

Reading to them: Still doing good. We have read to them almost every night.

This weekend we had theater class, which is in English, and it was good for them.

Room for improvement: I need to get back to writing messages for my daughter on the dinosaur chalkboard.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that I've been playing audiobooks in the car lately and my daughter loves them. My son doesn't ask for them but doesn't complain either. The stories are longish, so I only play them when it's at least a half-hour ride, which happens at least once a week. Neither of them was interested in these audiobooks a year ago, when they got them for Christmas, but I guess a year has made all the difference. I'm glad I decided to give them another try.

Edited to add (again): My son asked to watch one of the shows his sister likes the other day, which surprised us because he's never shown any interest in watching TV. Well, he watched his first movie yesterday: The Good Dinosaur. I think Movie Night is back! *happy dance* I keep hearing my daughter use words and expressions I thought she didn't know, and I know many come from her TV shows. If you're wondering, she only watches TV on weekends, and only when we're home for my son's nap, which isn't often. So even a little TV time can make a difference.

Post by Alba on Nov 14, 2018 7:36:06 GMT 9

How exciting to read your progress, Raquel! It's nice to see how your daughter does her ml homework too and you wanna keep making it interesting for her. It inspires me to start thinking how I'll be doing with my little one.

Can I ask you how old was your son when he started saying nose, and parts of the body? Did he say all in English or did he say some Spanish words too? My son is 15 months so I can't help comparing a bit (although I know I shouldn't, but to have a bit of an idea ). He recognises the name of body parts in Spanish only (ml1), but he is not saying them yet.

Post by Amy on Nov 14, 2018 16:11:07 GMT 9

Sorry, I just noticed the rest of pages on the thread! I asked you about something old, don't worry about it!

Very interesting and inspiring how dedicated and persistent you are being with your children. It definitely helps the rest of us seeing how you approach it to get our own ideas too.

Thanks,

Alba

Hola Alba,

For such young children, I would suggest developmental activities such as the ones suggested in the "Mamá Estimula. There are lovely ideas to teach them colours, sizes and stimulate their hand-eye coordination. Request the membership to the group and see it for yourself.

Post by Amy on Nov 14, 2018 16:18:10 GMT 9

I love this great news! Movie night and audiobooks...that is so beneficial: it's easy additional ml exposure time! Also delighted your son has shown his first sign of interest for telly. Though screen time never does it all, it can act as supplemental exposure.

Definitely agree: a year makes a big difference in their likings and interests. That's why when they reject something, just set it aside and try much later...kids are so surprising.

You are really doing great with the number of exposure hours. I am so impressed! Over 50h a week is amazing.

Funny what you said about the confusion generated by the vowels' sounds. My daughter's also finds them trying.

Congratulations on all these beautiful results your reaping from all your hard work!

Amy

***"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars" - Oscar Wilde***

Post by Raquel on Nov 14, 2018 20:20:01 GMT 9

No problem re the question about things I posted long ago! I don't remember exactly, but I can tell you both my children said their first word at 15 months, so if your son is already saying anything, in any language, he's already doing better, language-wise, than mine.

My situation is reserved (Spanish is the ML and English the ml), and because we only speak English at home, they both spoke more English than Spanish in the beginning. But, like I said, that's because of the extra exposure, having 2 parents who speak the ml.

My 2 main pieces of advice are the following:

- Make sure that the summer when they turn 2 you spend as much time as possible in the mls. This made all the difference with both my children. If you can spend time in Spain or India, great. The main thing is keeping them away from the ML as much as possible. With my daughter it was spending with just us all of August (so no ML directed to her) and with my son travelling to the UK for 17 days, plus an American nanny in July instead of attending nursery school.

- Pretend not to understand them when they use the ML with you. Then introduce the new vocabulary so that they know what to say next time. When they're older, you can have them explain what they mean to you. If they never use the ML with you, when they're older, you can just translate the word for them: "we say [word in the ml]" and have them repeat it after you.

As far as homework goes, you still have quite some time before that, but it's always good to think ahead, so that when it's time, you have an idea of what you want to do and how.

Hey Amy! Thanks for your comments. My aim is actually 40+ hours, but this past week was extremelly good! This one isn't being as good, it being warm for this time of year and sunny.

Thanks for sharing that reading vowels in English is also hard for your daughter, Amy. The book we use starts with short vowels, then introduces some other sounds (like the A in ball, or the one in car), then moves on to long vowels. Since all the texts included lots of long vowels at this point, my daughter was trying to read all the vowel as if they were long. When I noticed, I stopped the reading and explained that by default we read the short ones and the long ones follow some rules (magic/silent e...) But it's so easy in Spanish!! I can see why it's hard for a child (or an adult learning English) to know when to pronounce it one way or another (or another, or another...)

The other day my son and I were looking at a book and he was pointing at a crocodile and saying "cocodrilo" (the Spanish word for it). I pretended not to understand at first, but then he told me: "Cocodrilo in inglés" (Crocodile in English). I thought it was hilarious that he thought that because he was saying "English" in Spanish, then it meant Spanish. I told him that was in Spanish, but in English it's "crocodile". It must be confusing for them to understand which language is which, and then what to call them in each language: español/Spanish, inglés/English.

We're spending this weekend with some English-speaking friends (families like us raising their children bilingual English-Spanish, when they aren't native speakers themselves), so I expect lots of English exposure and lots of playing in English with other children, which I think is very important.

Post by Alba on Nov 17, 2018 7:30:30 GMT 9

For such young children, I would suggest developmental activities such as the ones suggested in the "Mamá Estimula. There are lovely ideas to teach them colours, sizes and stimulate their hand-eye coordination. Request the membership to the group and see it for yourself.

Post by Alba on Nov 17, 2018 7:39:25 GMT 9

No problem re the question about things I posted long ago! I don't remember exactly, but I can tell you both my children said their first word at 15 months, so if your son is already saying anything, in any language, he's already doing better, language-wise, than mine.

My situation is reserved (Spanish is the ML and English the ml), and because we only speak English at home, they both spoke more English than Spanish in the beginning. But, like I said, that's because of the extra exposure, having 2 parents who speak the ml.

My 2 main pieces of advice are the following:

- Make sure that the summer when they turn 2 you spend as much time as possible in the mls. This made all the difference with both my children. If you can spend time in Spain or India, great. The main thing is keeping them away from the ML as much as possible. With my daughter it was spending with just us all of August (so no ML directed to her) and with my son travelling to the UK for 17 days, plus an American nanny in July instead of attending nursery school.

- Pretend not to understand them when they use the ML with you. Then introduce the new vocabulary so that they know what to say next time. When they're older, you can have them explain what they mean to you. If they never use the ML with you, when they're older, you can just translate the word for them: "we say [word in the ml]" and have them repeat it after you.

As far as homework goes, you still have quite some time before that, but it's always good to think ahead, so that when it's time, you have an idea of what you want to do and how.

This is brilliant, Raquel, gracias. Yes, understood regarding the importance of exposure when turning 2. Last summer we went a couple of weeks to Madrid to celebrate his first birthday. I hope we can go to either place this summer too!

I'm happy to see so many groups and activities going on in Madrid in English. I realise I never knew cause of course when I lived there all these couldn't be further from my mind (same as anything related to children really ). I miss the city sometimes to be honest but I live in a very family-friendly place too. I see our ML and ml are just reversed!

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Amy: Cute code switching this morning when my 3 year old told me "I get my pótamo" (she meant her hippo soft toy). This mixing was music to my ears... It means she is truly growing trilingual. Apr 6, 2019 2:51:35 GMT 9*

Adam Beck: Lovely, Amy! Good for you, and good for her! P.S. I like hippos.Apr 7, 2019 10:32:37 GMT 9

Alba: So funny, Amy! Great to hear I love the word Hypo, every child says it different! My son did something similar when he say "This tocotó", he calls horses "tocotó" based on the noise they made when trotting (tocotó, iiii (neigh)-ok, for a Spanish ear) Apr 8, 2019 6:52:09 GMT 9

Amy: Cheer Alba and Adam Beck! . I love these "baby" words. They are so cute. I like the "This tocotó" another example of state of the art Spanglish <3Apr 9, 2019 4:54:05 GMT 9

Mayken: Got home from a short trip to Zürich - heard German, French & Italian on the train, and both German and French in the tram. And everyone speaks English too. It was nice to be able to choose which of my languages I wanted to speak!May 6, 2019 23:07:42 GMT 9

Mayken: It is, Amy . I didn't realise how much I had missed it.May 7, 2019 23:10:43 GMT 9

Amy: Last year, a new colleague joined my team. She's trilingual in the same languages as me. It was like magic. We change languages and even code-switch several time a day. I had missed that so much!! My monolingual colleagues must think we're freaks! lolMay 8, 2019 4:56:12 GMT 9

Amy: Unfortunately, she has resigned and is leaving shortly. I was so proud to introduce her to my eldest, one day that I had brought her to show her round my office. And to introduce other bi/multilingual colleagues. Show how important languages are.May 8, 2019 4:58:26 GMT 9

Mayken: That must have been wonderful, Amy! I'm sorry she is leaving. I would love to find someone like that. We had an English intern last year who spoke German and French. We chatted a lot.May 8, 2019 6:06:01 GMT 9

Caro C.: Oh Amy I sort of feel related to what you are saying. Some months ago I made a friend from the US. She happens to be a neighbor with four kids. We’ve been sharing back and forth and I’d love my baby girl to eventually be able to share with her childrenMay 13, 2019 12:55:09 GMT 9

Caro C.: Although maybe they will be a bit old for her, still we (I mean their mom = Sarah and me) both are very happy and grateful for each other as friends.May 13, 2019 12:57:05 GMT 9*

Mayken: As of yesterday, I am aunt to a baby girl who lives in our ml country with 2 ml parents, and I'm already planning to get them a nice nursery rhymes CD for our first visit. May 16, 2019 20:03:47 GMT 9*

Caro C.: OMG I just came across this song and it filled my heart with joy and excitement...perfect for all of us who are parents: youtu.be/g1fcnhB8GOYMay 19, 2019 14:01:55 GMT 9*

Adam Beck: Caro, thanks for sharing that lovely song. Raffi was one of our very favorite musicians when my kids were small. We listened to him all the time. I highly recommend his albums as a source of very enjoyable and very effective English input. May 20, 2019 15:32:26 GMT 9

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